Toyota's quarterly profit increases with sales growth and cost reduction

Toyota Motor Corp. announced a 28% increase in the last quarter, driven by sales growth in Europe, Asia and the Americas and cost reductions. He raised his earnings forecast for the full year.

The Japanese automaker said Tuesday that its profits for the period from July to September stood at 585.1 billion yen ($ 5.2 billion), up 458.3 billion yen the year before . Quarterly sales rose 2 percent to 7.31 billion yen ($ 64.7 billion).

The builder of the Camry sedan, the Prius hybrid and the subcompact Corolla expects a profit of 2,300 billion yen ($ 20 billion) for the fiscal year up to March. This exceeds the previous forecast of 2.1 billion yen ($ 19 billion), but is down almost 8% from the previous year's 2.5 trillion yen.

Toyota sold 2.183 million vehicles in July-September, up from 2.175 million vehicles in the same period of the previous year.

Vehicle sales declined in the United States and Japan, but improved in Europe, the rest of Asia, and Central and South America. The company has maintained its full year forecast of selling 8.9 million vehicles worldwide for the period to March 2019.

Cost reductions and marketing efforts contributed to the results of the last quarter although an unfavorable exchange rate detracted, according to Toyota.

"We are progressing steadily towards achieving our challenge level goal," said Masayoshi Shirayanagi, senior management executive, in a statement on cost reduction efforts.

Toyota, which is often perceived as a symbol of iconic Japanese manufacturing, is trying to focus on artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, carpool services and other new uses of technology to keep up with the evolution of l & # 39; industry.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda, a member of the founding family, has repeatedly said that Toyota's business should change: from simple vehicle manufacturing to handling all kinds of mobility needs.

Explore further:
Toyota quarterly profit improves sales